Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-03-05

competent Tor ali other stations, VINO
are acting a silly and foolish part in
regard to the technicalitics of religion.
They ask us some questions winch we
cannot answer categorically. and SO
they burst into a broad outlaw. as
though it is Of any more interest TO rs
than it ought to them. About the
~atonement. ABOUT Gods DEGREES. about
mans destiny. they ask a great many
questions which we cannot answer. and
SO they deride us, as though we could
not ask them Il thousand questions that
they cannot answer, about their eyes,
about their ears. about their finger
nails, about everything. a fool can
ask a question that a wise man cannot
answer. }, you cavilling men! O, you
rofo md meL! O, you learned men,
do please admit something. You have
a soulp Yes. Win it live for ever?
Yes. Where? You say that Jesus
Christ is not IA Divine Savior. Who is
hep Where will you 90 after you
leave your law hooks, and your medi-
cal prescriptions, and your club-room,
and your newspaper oflice-where will
you 20 TOP Your body will be six feet
under ground. Where will your soul
bep The black coat will be off, the
shroud OIL. Those sp~ectacles will he
removed from your vision, for the sod
will press your eyelids. Have You any
idea that an earthly almanac describes
the years of your lifetimep OF what
stuff shall l gather the material for the
letters of that word which describes
your eternal homer Shall it be iron
chain or amaranthine %garlandP The
air that stirs the besweated locks of
your dying pillow. will it come off II
garden or a desert3 O, quit the puz-
cling questions and try these
MOMENTOUs QUESTIONS.
Quit the small questions and try these
great questions. Instead Of discussing
whether the serpent in Eden was figu-
rative or literal, whether the Mediter-
r.inean fish did or aid o swallow the
recreant prophet, whether this and
that, and the other thing is right or
wrong. come and diseases one questions:
How shall | get rid of my sins and
win heavtn?' That is the question for
you. Yea, there have been men who
have actually lost their souls because
they thought there was a diserep-
ancy between Moses and Profes ,or
Stillman-bccause they could not
understand how there could be light
before the sun rose-the light appear
ing in verse 3 of Genesis, and the II
appearing not until verse l6-and be-
cause they do not know how the moon
could not stand still without upsctting
the universe, they had not decided
upon the theory of natural selection.
A German philosopher in dying had
for his chief sorrow that he had not de-
voted his whole life to the study of the
dative case. o, when your
IMMORTALITY Is IN PERIL,
why bubble? Quit these non-essen-
tials, my dear brother. Ip the name
of God; | ask you, in regard to these
matters of the immortal soul, that you
do not play the fool.
What is that man doing overin Bowl
ing Green, New York? Well. he is
going in for a ticket for a transatlantic
voyage. He is quarreling with the
clerk about the spots-the red spots on
the ticket-and he is quarreling about
the peculiar signature of the president
of the steamship company, and he is
quarroling about the manner of the
clerk who hands him the
ticket. How long has he been
standing thereP Three weeks. Mean
while perhaps twenty steamers have
gone out Of port, and l hear the shrek
Of the steam tug that could take him
to the last vessel to his engagement in
London. Still he stands in Bowling
Green discussing the ticket. What do
you say in regard to that manp You
say he is a fool. Well, in that very
way are many men acting in regard to
the matters of the soul. They are cav
Hing about the
ATONEMENT-
the red spots on the ticket; about the
character of the man who hands the
ticket; about whether it has IA Divine
or human signature-and meanwhile
all their opportunities for heaven are
sailing out of the harbor. and
| hear the last tap of the
bell announcing their last chance for
heaven. Go aboard! Do not waste
any more time in higgling and carping,
and criticising, and wondering, and, in
the presence of an astoundcd heaven,
playing the fool.
Once more: ! say to you that those
men play the fool who, while they adj
NIT the Righteousness of religion, set it
down for future attendance. Do You
know how many times the word NOW"
occurs in the Bible? Over two hundred
times. One of the shortest words in
the Bible, and yet one of the grandest
in meaning and ramiications. When
does the Bible say is the best time TO
Now. When does the Bible
say hat God will forgive? Now.
When does God say is the only safe
Gime TO attend to the matters of the
soul? Now. But that word
.'NoW''
melts away as easily as Il snowflake in
the evening rain. Where is the "now''
of the dead of last year? the now of
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